Venetian blind attachment



Dec. 31, 1957 s. M. REICHEL 2,818,113

VENETIAN BLIND ATTACHMENT Filed June 1, 1956 INVENTOR. SAMUEL M- QE/CHELnited States Patent VENETIAN BLIND ATTACHMENT Samuel M. Reichel,Annapolis, Md.

Application June 1, 1956, Serial No. 588,661

3 Claims. (Cl. 1601 15) The present invention relates generally toVenetian blinds and specifically to an attachment for a Venetian blindfor tilting certain of the blind slats relative to the other blindslats.

An object of the present invention is to provide an attachment for aVenetian blind for tilting certain of the blind slats relative to otherblind slats so that a portion of the Venetian blind may be made to blocklight rays or line of vision while other portions of the blind'admitlight rays from specific angles and permit at least partial visionthrough the blind.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an attachment fora Venetian blind for tilting some of the blind slats relative to theother blind slats, one which may be incorporated in the structure of thesupport tapes and, when so incorporated, is relatively inconspicuous anddoes not detract from the appearance of the blind.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an attachmentfor a Venetian blind which permits the shortening of the tapes on oneside of the blind to effect the tilting of the blind slats below theattachment without bunching of the support tape portion which isshortened.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a devicefor attachment to a Venetian support tape for effecting the tilting ofthe slats, one which is sturdy in construction, neat in appearance, oneeconomically manufactured and assembled, and one which is highlyetfective in action.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will befully apparent from the following description when taken in connectionwith the annexed draw ing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an assembled Venetian blind inextended condition as if covering an opening in a wall;

Figure 2 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on line 2-2 ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken on line 33 ofFigure 1; and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a single attachment element of thepresent invention shown attached to a fragment of one of the supporttapes.

Referring in detail to the drawing in which like numerals indicate likeparts throughout the several views, the present invention consists inmeans for shortening the tapes of a Venetian blind which includes twopairs of vertically disposed support tapes arranged in lateral spacedrelation, one pair being designated by the reference numeral 11 and theother pair being designated by the reference numeral 12.

The tapes of each pair of tapes, 11 or 12, are positioned in tandemrelation. A plurality of horizontally disposed blind slats 13 arearranged in superimposed vertical spaced relation and are positionedbetween the tapes of each pair of tapes and each slat 13 is connected tothe pair of tapes inwardly of its end for movement from the horizontalposition to a position at an angle to the 'ice horizontal. The meansconnecting each slat 13 to the pairs of tapes 11 and 12 comprises across tape 14 extending between the tapes of each pair of tapes andunderlying each slat 13.

The means provided by the present invention for shortening the tapes ofeach pair of tapes 11 and 12 comprises at least two attaching elements15 each embodying a bar and positioned on the faces of the tapes 16 and17 of each pair of tapes 11 and 12 remote from the slats 13 and at thepoint of connection of each slat 13v with the respective .tapes 16 and17. The bar of each of elements 15 has two legs arranged at an angle toeach other and is positioned so that the one leg 18 of the bar extendshorizontally across and abuts the face of the tape 16 or tape 17 remotefrom the slats 13 and has the other leg 19 positioned perpendicularly tothe aforesaid face of the tape 16 or 17.

The bar of the attaching element 15 is securely fixed to the face of thetape 16 or 17 remote from the slats 13 by adhesive or other means asindicated by the reference numeral 20 in Figure 3, the adhesive beingspread upon the adjacent face of the leg 18 of the bar.

As shown most clearly in Figure 4, the bar of the element 15 is providedwith two spaced inwardly projecting hooks carried by the free end of theleg 19 of the bar, the hooks being indicated by the reference numerals21 and 22 in Figure 4. The hooks 21 and 22 of one bar element 15 areengageable with the hooks 21 and 22 of either the next adjacent barelement or any other bar element on the same tape. As shown in Figure 3,the hook 22 of one of the bar elements 15 011 the tape 17 isinterengaged with the hooks 22 of the next adjacent of the bar elements15 on the tape 17, or the hooks 21 and 22 of one of the bar elements 15on the tapes 16 and 17 are interengaged respectively with the hooks 21and 22 of the bar element 15 on the tapes 16 and 17 but spaced below thenext adjacent of the bar elements 15, as indicated by the numerals 15'and 15" in Figure 2.

The hooks 21 and 22 of each bar are spaced from each other a distanceequal to the width of either of the hooks 21 or 22 to provide an openingtherebetween for receiving the hook 21 or 22 of another bar with one barshifted laterally with respect to the other. This lateral shifting isaccomplished manually, of course, when the hooks of adjacent bars are tobe interengaged, the hooks of adjacent interengaged bars being looselyslidable longitudinally with respect to each other after their shiftingfrom the offset lateral displaced position.

As will be seen in Figures 1 and 2, the slats 13 in the upper group Amay be maintained in the horizontal position while the slats of group Bimmediately therebelow are tilted at one angle relative to the slats ofgroup A. Immediately below the group B is another group of slats C whichare tilted at an angle greater than the group B due to theinterengagement of the elements 15 as previously described. Theinterengagement of the hooks of the elements 15 as at 15" in Figure 2permits the formation of another group of slats D, which lie in the sameplane as the group of slats A. It is readily seen therefore that theattaching element of the present invention permits the regrouping of theslats of a Venetian blind to permit portions of the slats to tiltrelative to other portions of the slats.

The attaching means of the present invention in no way interferes withthe vertical collapsing of the slats when the pull cord 23 is actuatednor does it interfere with the tilting of all the slats relative to thehorizontal when the tilting cords 24 and 25 are actuated.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a Venetian blind including at least two pairs ofvertically disposed support tapes arranged in lateral spaced relation,the tapes of each pair being positioned in tandem relation, and aplurality of horizontally disposed slats arranged in superimposedvertical spaced relation positioned between said tapes and eachconnected to said pairs of tapes for movement from the horizontalposition to a position at an angle to the horizontal, of a means forshortening the tapes of each pair of tapes, said means comprising atleast two attaching elements each embodying a bar having two legsarranged at an angle to each other, the bar being positioned on the faceof one tape of each pair of tapes remote from the slats and at the pointof connection of said one tape to a slat with one of the legs extendinghorizontally across and abutting said one face of said one tape with theother leg perpendicularly to said one tape, each of said one legs ofsaid oars. being fixedly secured to said one tape, and a hook carried bythe free end of each of said bar other legs, the hook on one ofv saidbar other leg being engageable with the hook on the Other leg of anotherbar of said one tape whereby said one tape of each pair may be shortenedrelative to the other tape of said pair to tilt the adjacent slat andthe slats below said adjacent slat relative to the slats above saidadjacent slat.

2. The combination with a Venetian blind including at least two pairs ofvertically disposed support tapes arranged in lateral spaced relation,the tapes of each pair being positioned in tandem relation, and aplurality of horizontally disposed slats arranged in superimposedvertical spaced relation positioned between said tapes and eachconnected to said pairs of tapes for movement from the horizontalposition to a position at an angle to the. horizontal, of a means forshortening the tapes of each pair of tapes, said means comprising atleast two attaching elements each embodying a bar having two legsarranged at an angle to each other, the bar being positioned on the faceof each tape of each pair of tapes remote from said slats and at thepoint of connection of each slat to said tape with one of the legs.extending horizontally across, and abutting said one face of said onetape with the other leg perpendicularly to said one tape, each of saidone legs of said bars being fixedly secured to said tape, and at leasttwo spaced inwardly projecting hooks carried by the free end of each ofsaid bar other legs, said books oneach of said bar other legs beingengageable with and longitudinally slidable within the hooks of anotherbar of the same tape whereby said tape of each pair may be shortenedrelative to the other tape of said pair to tilt the adjacent slat andthe slats below said adjacent slat relative to the slats above saidadjacent slat.

3. The combination with a Venetian blind including at least two pairs ofvertically disposed support tapes arranged in lateral spacedrelation,the tapes of each pair being positioned in tandem relation, and aplurality of horizontally disposed slats arranged in superimposedvertical spaced relation. positioned between said tapes and eachconnected to said pairs of tapes for movement from the horizontalposition to a position at an angle to the horizontal, of a means forshortening the tapes of each pair of tapes, said means comprising atleast two attachingelements each embodying a bar having two legsarranged at an angle to each other, the bar being positioned on the faceof each tape of each pair of tapes remote from said slats and at thepoint of connection of each slat with said tapewith one of the legsextending horizontally across and abutting said one face of said onetapewith the other leg perpendicularly to said one tape, each of said onelegs of saidbars being fixedly secured to said tape, and at least twospaced inwardly projecting hooks carried by the free end of each of saidbar other legs, said hooks on each of said bar other legs beingengageable with and longitudinally slidable within the hooks of anotherbar of the same tape whereby saidtape of eachpair may be shortenedrelative to the other tape of said pair to tilt the adjacent slat andthe slats below said adjacent slat relative to the slats above saidadjacent slat, said two hooks of each bar being spaced from eachother adistance equal to the width of either hook to provide an openingtherebetween for receiving the hook of said another bar withsaidlast-named bar shifted laterally with respect to said first-namedbar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,115,663 Balthasar Apr. 26, 1938

